THE

DEVELOPMENT OF FACTS,

&c.

CHAPTER I.

The character of Gamaliel Smith as a writer.—That of the author of the New Trial of the Witnesses.-The principles taught by Jesus Christ as constituting the Gospel.

THE work entitled "Not Paul but Jesus," as coming from the pen of a celebrated writer on legislation, and the author of many works against corruption and in favour of civil liberty, deserves the attention of all believers in Christianity. I perused it with a great mixture of pain and pleasure: I felt pain that a writer who has ample claims on the respect and gratitude of mankind should hazard those claims by a work, the immediate object of which, at least in the opinion of the Christian world, is to counteract the most powerful motives to improvement, both in his individual and social capacity, which man can possibly have; to push back into eternal darkness the life and immortality brought to light in the gospel; to deprive the truly wise and good of glory and honour as the final reward and triumph of virtue, and to aggravate the condition of the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, by stopping up the hopes and consolations of religion, as sources of delusion, and pointing to the

B

grave as their ultimate and eternal abode.-At the same time, I felt pleasure in the perusal of this work, because it proves that a writer of distinguished talents, could after the utmost labour produce nothing against the Christian religion but what is founded in ignorance, misrepresentation, and sophistry. In the charges which the author brings against the apostle, he displays the spirit, the artifices, and the hostility of an attorney-general; eager to criminate his victim, advancing positions without any regard to truth or consistence, without any knowledge of the circumstances of the accused, and without any attention to the laws of the human mind. The volume throughout is penned in the exact style of an indictment or some legal instrument, loaded with useless particularities, intersected by parentheses, rendered voluminous and circuitous by continued repetitions; and from these causes so obscure, that a person who is tolerably acquainted with Greek, could as readily peruse and comprehend the pages of Aristotle.

Another production, called “A new Trial of the Witnesses,” has been put into my hands, the object of which is to prove the resurrection of Christ to be a falsehood invented by the apostles, and thus to tear up the very foundation of the Christian Faith. This pamphlet is written in a more agreeable and perspicuous style than that of Gamaliel Smith's: but there appears in the author the total absence of every requisite which might qualify him to discuss so important a subject. The writer, it is true, professes to have been actuated by a love of truth: but the love of truth, where it is real, supposes the qualifications necessary to find it-patient investigation, candour, and learning; but of these he is totally destitute. Nor does this work come recommended to us by novelty or superior acuteness. The objections which it contains to the evangelical records are as stale as they are groundless; and it may appear surprising to a reflecting person, that a man of such slender powers, and so little acquaint

ed with the subject, should ever have thought of writing against Christianity.

Among the charges which the author of "Not Paul but Jesus," whom for the sake of brevity I shall call Gamaliel, alleges against Paul, one is, that he tyrannized over the other apostles and taught a doctrine different from the gospel which they had received from Jesus. To prove the futility of this charge, it is necessary to show briefly what it is that our Lord has taught, and what was that anti-apostolic doctrine called antichrist, which his accuser imputes to the apostle.

The system of moral and religious instruction which Christ has revealed or sanctioned, may be comprehended under the following heads:

1. That there exists but one God, the creator and go. vernor of the universe, perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness. This doctrine was not new; it was the fundamental principle of the religion of Moses and the prophets. But Jesus improved and perfected it by representing the Great Supreme under the character of Father, not confining his care and providence to one people, but extending his love and protection, without distinction and without partiality, to all mankind.

2. That man, being endued with reason, is an accountable being; that every individual shall hereafter appear before the tribunal of his Maker and moral Governor to account for the use of the talents with which he is intrusted.

This doctrine, if not entirely new, was a vast improvement on the vague notions which had hitherto prevailed on this important subject. The Gentiles hoped to appease their gods by ablutions, by superstitious rites and sacrifices in which those divinities were thought to share; while the Jews, at the tribunal of their Judge expected to find favour as the descendants of Abraham, or to be acquitted on the great day of trial for a strict compli ance with those external ordinances, which, because

they were ordained by the law, were pompously called works of the law, though, contrary to their original intention, they were separated from the great duties of morality. These abuses, which were pushed to the utmost extent by the priests and Pharisees in the days of our Saviour, are swept away in the Gospel; and every member, whether high or low in the scale of society, is taught to expect that he shall be tried according to his works; that every man who worketh righteousness is to be accepted of his final Judge; while indignation and wrath await the impenitent, whether Jew or Greek. Accordingly, piety to God, resignation to his will, benevolence, purity of heart, and the regulation of our thoughts; patience under sufferings, the restraining of the angry passions, envy and revenge; forgiveness of injuries, humility, and superiority to the world, with a readiness to do all the good in our power, especially to those in difficulty and distress ;-these virtues are held forth in the preaching and example of Christ as the only terms of salvation, and the only solid grounds of hope for acceptance in the great day of universal retribution. Jesus, aware of the propensity of the Jews on the one hand to substitute the form of godliness for piety and benevolence; and anticipating on the other the introduction of creeds and articles of faith under a corrupt state of his religion, appears to have been extremely anxious to define and illustrate the terms on which men may hope to be saved. This anxiety pressed closer to his heart, as he drew nearer to the termination of his ministry; and we owe to it his reply to the question on the part of a rich Pharisee, "What shall I do to be saved?" the beautiful parables of the Virgins, and of the Talents, and more especially his simple yet magnificent representation of the last judgment, in which the righteous are rewarded, not because they profess any particular tenets, or belong to any particular church, but solely because they fulfilled as men the duties of humanity; while, on the contra

ry, the wicked are sent to a place of punishment only for the neglect of them.

3. The doctrine of a future state, founded on the supposed immortality of the soul, generally prevailed among mankind in Gentile countries as well as in Judea. The best and wisest among the heathen philosophers argued and wrote in support of it. Legislators and magistrates inculcated it as useful and even necessary to the order and prosperity of the community. The priests of every description enjoined it as a fundamental article of their religion; nor did the Epicureans refuse an outward submission to the popular notion, however they might deride or argue against it among themselves. This doctrine must appear to have been highly favourable to the propagation of the gospel, if Christ and his apostles thought fit to avail themselves of it. When arraigned or opposed in their disputes with the heathens, they might have cited with great effect the authority of Pythagoras or of Socrates: they might have appealed to the writings of Plato, of Aristotle, and of Cicero, as teaching tenets essentially the same with their own. But it is a remarkable fact, that the preachers of the new faith, notwithstanding the overwhelming difficulties they had to encounter, scrupulously abstained from a line of conduct, which could not have failed to prove advantageous to their cause. Their Divine Master knew, that if they held forth to man a future state of existence, because the soul of man is immaterial and immortal; the sacrifices which they made, however great, in the fulfilment of their commission, would prove only the sincerity, not the truth, of their belief. Discarding therefore the popular notion of the immortality of the human soul, as unworthy of their attention, he directed their views to his own resurrection, (a fact on which, when fulfilled, they could not have been mistaken,) as a proof and a pledge of the resurrection of all mankind. Our blessed Lord did not indeed discover the doctrine of a future state, but he placed it on a new and